fermentation

I bought some wheat berries the other day and noticed in the ‘Tonics' section of Nourishing Traditions that there is a recipe called Rejuvelac. I had never heard of this tonic before. It seems it is another fermented beverage similar to beet kvass or cabbage/sauerkraut juice, but it's made with wheat berries. It is extremely high in B vitamins in a form that is easily absorbed by the body. And it's very easy to make!

As I'm writing this I'm taking a break with a glass of kombucha and celebrating that I am DONE putting up the pickles for this year. In typical Kim-fashion I bought a huge 25 pound bag of local pickling cucumbers at one of our area farm stores. I hid it from my husband in the garage fridge (I was amazed it fit in there) because I knew what he was going to say… “who is going to eat all of these pickles??” Well, hopefully WE will!

I love this pickle recipe! It is out of Sally Fallon Morell and Mary Enig's ‘Eat Fat, Lose Fat‘ book, which is a great book to read in addition to Nourishing Traditions. It's nice to have a sweeter version of the lacto-fermented pickle, and the honey and lemon juice in this recipe do the job nicely.

This is one of those ‘no cost' recipes made from things that other people normally throw away. When I made applesauce, I also started making this vinegar at the same time, with all of the fruit trimmings, cores, and cut out bruises. I fermented them in jars for awhile, strained out the fruit scraps, and let the vinegar ferment longer. The result? An amazingly fragrant and abundant fruit vinegar for almost no cost. Waste not, want not!

Do not mistake this recipe for the ginger ale that you get at the grocery store. It is much stronger, and actually tastes like ginger! Sally Fallon says in Nourishing Traditions to drink it warm and dilute it with water or carbonated water if you'd like. It is refreshing, and especially good for menstrual cramps or other tummy aches. I love this stuff, and will make it again! I used the full amount of ginger, but I am a ginger freakoid. It is not as sweet as many are used to, so you may want to use additional Rapadura if you want a treat.

I have an unnatural love for beets. I wasn't always this way, it happened after I turned 30. That was the first time that I tasted a homemade pickled beet, not out of a can. Wow, what a difference!

Lacto-fermentation brings an even more complex flavor to sweet beets, without added sweetener or vinegar. In the ‘olden days', vinegar wasn't necessarily used to keep beets. Beets were fermented in the same way as sauerkraut, with salt and water. In Sally Fallon's recipe from Nourishing Traditions, whey is used as an inoculate to get the good bacteria started.

I have almost always been a yogurt lover. Even in my 20's, I would eat yogurt almost every single day. When I used to think of making my own yogurt, I was mystified. Why would people do this when you can just buy it at the store? This was at the same time that I'd buy the low fat artificially sweetened yogurt in the small containers. Now I realize that those little containers that are advertised to be one of the healthiest foods on the planet, aren't healthy at all.

The first time I made beet kvass three years ago, I was scared to drink it. This tended to be a theme with my first lacto fermentation experiments. So I had this half gallon of beautiful ruby liquid sitting on the counter, and then in the fridge, untouched.

Ahhhh, cabbage juice tonic. A very simple yet refreshing Nourishing Traditions beverage! I think it will be the new Gatorade! No more will I need to rob my sauerkraut of its juice, as I can make separate ‘sauerkraut juice'. This is considered to be a super food tonic because of the good probiotic bacteria in this juice.

Three days ago I took a few minutes out of my day I made sauerkraut. I bought one green cabbage, shredded it, added salt and whey, and mixed it up a bit and pounded it (very meditative to pound a cruciferous vegetable, let me tell you). Was called away and forgot about it. A few hours later I mixed it and pounded some more and packed it into jars, and left them on the counter for three days. Voila! After about 20 minutes work, I have sauerkraut, the winter vegetable miracle, and a great impromptu ‘salad'!

Like most people in the US today, the first time I ate sauerkraut it was out of one of those jars from the store. The manufacturer makes the sauerkraut, adds preservatives and then pasteurizes the kraut, which kills any beneficial bacteria that ever lived in it. Plus, it doesn't taste as good as homemade, it's usually mushy, yuck! When I was a kid, I called the stuff ‘sour crap' to annoy my family members. As an adult, I did like it occasionally on a hot dog. But never with anything else.

Then I made the sauerkraut out of Nourishing Traditions. I was a bit scared to eat it when it was done… I mean, I left FOOD on the counter for three days! And then I'm supposed to eat it? But I took a tiny bite, and it was surprisingly good, with a crunch that I wasn't used to in sauerkraut. Plus it made me feel good! Pretty soon I was eating it with all sorts of things.

I was able to use the whey that I made yesterday to make ginger carrots today! What are ginger carrots, you say? Well, they are the very first fermented vegetable that I ever made! And they are very good… mild sweet tangy flavor that complement many dishes. The carrots are meant to be used as a condiment of sorts (like sauerkraut), and contain a lot of beneficial bacteria that aids in digestion. That is why these are great to eat with meat. I have even made a quick snack of ginger carrots and a piece of cheese and maybe a cracker or two… tasty! The ultimate ‘fast' food!

I thought that it would be fitting to start out my journey with the EASIEST recipe on the planet. Also it is an ingredient in a lot of other recipes, so it is very fitting to do first. When I first ‘made' whey, my husband thought I was nuts. Little did he know that it is an extremely useful thing, with a great by-product of wonderfully flavorful cream cheese (not like the dead stuff in stores). And it lasts for months in the fridge.